editorial

TLDR

I'm putting a feeler out there to see if anyone is interested in joining TIV as a fellow linkblogger and helping me turn this into a collective of like-minded linkblogging individuals.

Background

The way I've viewed the site is basically a way to talk about what's going on in the world via links, as well as sharing cool things I stumble upon.

I've long had this idea that The Independent Variable would eventually become a more collaborative linkblog à la Boing Boing—or maybe having the occasional guest editor/curator à la Kottke.

Now that we're on Ghost, and MagicPages allows unlimited Staff, the capabilities are all there, so there's no reason not to give it the ol' college try.

Details

Ideally, 3 or 4 people would join up.

There’d be no post quota or limits, but the loose guideline would be averaging anywhere between three posts a day to one a week—in practice, it should be guided by the links that you find worthy of sharing and commenting on. Nor is there a length of time you'd be required to stick around if you get busy elsewhere or are no longer interested in it.

The only requirement is that every link should come with commentary. Commentary can riff on the link, give your thoughts on the topic, detail downstream effects, explain why it’s important, or why we should care—basically anything you want to say about the topic.

Starting with a quote from the link is encouraged but not required.

Disclaimer

TIV is pro-Ukraine, believes Israel is committing genocide in Palestine, pro-LGBTQIA+, pro-choice, etc., etc., basically a socialist democrat; I personally donated to Elizabeth Warren's campaign in 2020. While we don't have to have the same opinion on everything, your words will live amongst those opinions. My motto is "be kind, stay sane," so hateful and discriminatory words won't fly.

Apply

If any of this sounds even a little bit intriguing, go ahead and apply, and we can discuss further to see if it's a good fit.

If you're reading this, you're probably thinking, "Great, another idiot with a Ghost blog who is probably going to try to ask me for money. And this idiot isn't even a journalist or a real writer."

DAMN STRAIGHT!

I'm here to bleed your wallet dry—capitalism, baby; it's a game and there can only be one winner: me.

Okay, to be a little bit more serious... if you've enjoyed reading the links I've shared with commentary in the past, nothing will change. Not only that, I'm committed to getting back to more frequent link blogging as I've gotten some things organized and settled a bit with Foofaraw.

But as a freelance consultant, I figured I should be trying to find ways to diversify my income and maybe even try to pretend like I'm an "expert" in certain things... so I'm committing to writing something a bit longer every week and will be sharing my movie, tv, and album reviews, which will both be exclusive to paid supporters.

To be clear, I'm financially stable for the next two years with my current client, so don't feel the need to support out of charity. But if you enjoy what I do here or are interested in checking out the longer writing and reviews I'll be publishing moving forward (or want to help offset the costs of paying writers and artists on Foofaraw), you can subscribe to TIV.

In terms of newsletters, I plan on putting together a weekly roundup of everything I publish for free, so there'll be multiple ways to keep up with the links. Those newsletters will occasionally include some things for paid subscribers, like my monthly Little Letter of Nonsense zine and other goodies as I come up with them.

That's it. Now be gone!